I make no secret that I am a Mac. And I've sort of had an esteem for Mr. Jobs and his business acumen. I love the innovation of his products. I remember first falling for Mac when they came in colors because I wanted the pink and white laptop...just like on Legally Blonde. I probably wanted it more because it was pink and less because I knew anything about computers and quality.
But I digress. So I have really been impressed with Apple and especially Steve Jobs' ability to keep it fresh and innovative. Then I picked up his biography...Steve Jobs. He's nothing like I expected he would be. I had this idea that he was really nice and easy going and that he probably had this relaxed management style. Don't ask me why. It was all assumption, I guess, based on what I had seen of him in public. And that included not very much. Because well, I'd only really seen him releasing new products. I think I just assumed it since I love the product.
I had no idea that he could kind of be a jerk.
I'm not too far into the book. Just the first hundred pages or so. But I have to say this about him. He was many things...arrogant, mean, manipulative. But he was also certain. Isn't that a good thing to be? He went after getting what he wanted because he was certain it would work, that it would be good. He was right. I'm sure he was somewhat driven by profit, but I don't think that was first in his heart. I think first he believed that his (and Wozniak's) ideas were good ideas that people could use and would want.
I envy that certainty. I want to be that certain in my own life. I wonder how that works, too, because it seems so different from my own nature which is sort of a nervous, doubting type of nature. I just wonder what parts of his brain worked differently than mine do. I know the world is made up of all sorts of people with so many different gifts. Maybe certainty in oneself is one of those gifts. I'm not sure, but I am impressed with it.
By the way, it's a good read, interesting because he was, despite his flaws, an interesting character. Book review to come.
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